It’s hard to wait

Waiting
is hard. When I look at our snow-covered yard, I yearn for spring. The daffodils
I planted last fall are nowhere in sight. Dirty piles of old snow, mud, and
messy puddles seem determined to stay and my desire for spring is not making it
arrive any quicker. We are in that in-between
time that only maple syrup producers can love. It’s not quite winter, but it is
not yet spring. It is hard to wait.

So much of life is like that. We
want answers, results, clarity. The chemo patient wants to know now if treatments
are working. The expectant mother wants assurance that her baby will be healthy
and strong. Awkward adolescents want to fast forward to a time when they will
fit in. The addict wants proof that rehab will bring health and wholeness.

Life, unfortunately, looks more like
my yard these days – messy and unfinished – rather than a tidy, neatly defined
happy ending.

Life is what happens while we’re
waiting for results and yearning for completion. The “highlights” of life –
graduation, awards, achievement – are just a fraction of our experience. Most of
life is lived in the “in-between” times. It’s in the struggle, the waiting, and
the effort. While every athlete dreams of crossing the finish line with arms
upraised in victory, most of their time is spent in training. Every gardener
rejoices in healthy vegetables and blooming flowers, but a lot of weeding and
fertilizing came before that glorious result.

While God is certainly present in
crowning achievements, I think God lives in the uncertainty of our lives. God
is in the waiting room, in the dreary loneliness of grief, in the struggle for
another hour of sobriety, in the grinding worry for a loved one, and in the
endless tasks of a caregiver.

It’s hard to wait. We want to get “there.” If we think we will
only discover God when we reach the Promised Land of completion, we will miss
the God of the journey. We will overlook the one who travels with us not just
to green pastures but also through all the dark valleys along the way.

It’s hard to wait. But we worship a patient God and God will
wait with us.

Sue Foster

Rev. Dr. Susan J. Foster (Sue) is the pastor of the East Woodstock Congregational (UCC) Church in CT. She is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and the author of "Retreats to Go: Twelve Creative Programs that Renew and Refresh."

Sue Foster

Sue is the pastor of the East Woodstock Congregational Church in East Woodstock CT.